THE ORIGINAL STRIP

FOR ALMOST A CENTURY, THE SUNSET STRIP HAS BEEN ONE BIG SHOW.

- John Pearley Huffman

" THE SUNSET STRIP is a road, not a track. It's almost always congested. There are no daring curves, and the pavement is only so-so. It's a 1.7mile chunk of Sunset Boulevard in what is now the city of West Hollywood. And for nearly a century, it's been an ongoing, moving nightly party.

"I always thought it was funny when someone pulled up with a really cool Chevelle next to someone who blew all their money on a Countach," recalls Riki Rachtman, whose rock'n'roll adventures include owning large clubs through the Eighties and Nineties and hosting MTV's Headbangers Ball. “People would still say, 'Wow, cool Chevelle." There were Chevelles cruising down in blue-collar Van Nuys and Countachs trawling Beverly Hills, but the Strip had-and still has-both.